


A Nightmare's Cure

by fukawas



Category: Compilation of Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy VII (Video Game 1997), Final Fantasy VII Remake (Video Game 2020)
Genre: F/F, First Kiss, Flirting, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, Sharing a Bed
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-24
Updated: 2020-07-24
Packaged: 2021-03-04 17:49:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,569
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25490422
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fukawas/pseuds/fukawas
Summary: "C’mon, you’ve lost people too and you didn’t whine about it. I really shouldn’t-”“Tifa. No.” Aerith felt anger rising within her. Not towards Tifa, but towards the people who had been making both their lives hell. Towards the unfairness that someone as wonderful as the woman standing in front of her would have to mourn people despite doing everything in her power to save everyone.“Yes, I’ve lost people, but you know what? I’ve cried about it. For days, for weeks, sometimes I still do. This isn’t easy, Tifa, and you shouldn’t have to hide your emotions. You don’t always have to be strong for everyone, you know? It’s not your fault.”
Relationships: Aerith Gainsborough/Tifa Lockhart
Comments: 5
Kudos: 51





	A Nightmare's Cure

**Author's Note:**

> heya! i havent written in forever but the girls just motivated me since theres not nearly enough content for them..!!

_Darkness engulfed her. Nothing but black, surrounding her - except for a glowing figure whose face Tifa couldn’t quite make out. As it drew nearer, a voice started whispering._

_“It’s your fault.”_

_________

“Here he comes! Use Ice to extinguish its flame!”, Cloud shouted before blocking a strike from the Hellhound, rolling away afterwards to charge a spell.  
“I got your back!”, Aerith responded and took a few steps backwards to get a better overview of the situation. Cloud still looked fine, launching back at the enemy with ease. And Tifa - _hold on_ \- what was Tifa doing? She half-heartedly took a swing, then flinched and seemed to freeze up as the Hellhound dug its claws into her thigh. 

  
“Tifa!” Aerith yelled, getting ready to heal the other girl. Cloud had just taken out the other hellhound and now came running to shield his teammates from any further injury.

With the three of them, it didn’t take them too long to finish off the last enemy, which made Tifa’s behavior even more unusual - there was no way she would normally let herself get hit like that.  
Aerith wiped the sweat from her brow and kneeled down next to Tifa, who was having trouble standing despite her friends’ healing spells. This wasn’t the first time in the past couple of days that Tifa seemed out of it, but never this much. 

“Hey, are you okay?” Aerith asked softly. Tifa gave a faint smile, but it didn’t reach her eyes. “Thanks to you, yeah.” 

Cloud looked worried too, but he seemed to conclude that the girls were able to handle it from here on out. “I’m gonna go back to collect our bounty. Aerith, can you take Tifa to your place and fix her up?”  
Tifa’s eyes widened. “Wait! We still have more to do, I can - “  
“Listen to Cloud, okay? I’ll take care of you.”  
Tifa sighed, then finally nodded. “Alright. Thanks, Aerith.”

_A hand, choking her. The feeling of being suffocated. Pain like her heart was getting ripped out. Now she saw who it was that was standing in front of her with their hand around her throat._

_“Jessie?”_ _  
_ _A devilish smile formed on the figure’s face. “Ah, yes, so you do remember me. I thought you’d forgotten all about me.”_ _  
_ _Tears started burning in Tifa’s eyes. “I could never!”_

 _The smile disappeared. “Don’t you dare mock me. If you ever cared for me, you wouldn’t have let me die.” The grip around her throat strengthened even further._ _  
  
_

It was evening by the time the two girls arrived at Aerith’s house. The walk had been slow, with Tifa leaning onto the other’s shoulder, and quiet, which made Aerith worry. She didn’t want to pry but something obviously had to be up with her friend who never made careless mistakes like today after years of training and experience.

The two of them had dinner together after caring for Tifa’s wounds. She yawned and made an effort to get up.  
“Thanks again, Aerith. I’m gonna go home now, I hope you’ll have a good ni-”  
“Wait.” Aerith gently grabbed her friends arm but quickly pulled back after seeing the other’s startled expression and started fumbling with her hands instead.  
Tifa chuckled. “What’s up with you? You’re not normally that shy.”  
Aerith stayed quiet for a moment, channeling her inner resolve. 

“Tell me.” 

She didn’t want to trigger any touchy subject for Tifa who was seemingly already having a bad day, but she couldn't bear not knowing what had been torturing the person she felt so strongly for. “Tell me what’s wrong.”  
  
Tifa let out a sigh, smiled faintly and sat back down.  
“Its.. it’s nothing serious, I promise.”  
“It’s serious if it almost gets you killed.”  
“Fair enough.”  
Silence surrounded the girls for a bit before Tifa continued.  
“Nightmares.”  
Aerith nodded. This made a lot of sense She too had been troubled by ghosts from the past trying to distract her from the present. “I get those too. What are yours about?”  
“People I let down, mostly. Often I don’t even see their faces, I just get this feeling that I couldn’t save them. Last night was the worst one, though. It was Jessie.”  
A little gasp escaped Aerith’s throat. She knew how close Tifa and Jessie had been and she felt a sting in her heart, experiencing the pain as if it was her own.  
“I can’t imagine what that must be like for you.”  
Tifa shook her head. “C’mon, you’ve lost people too and you didn’t whine about it. I really shouldn’t-”  
“Tifa. No.” Aerith felt anger rising within her. Not towards Tifa, but towards the people who had been making both their lives hell. Towards the unfairness that someone as wonderful as the woman standing in front of her would have to mourn people despite doing everything in her power to save everyone.  
“Yes, I’ve lost people, but you know what? I’ve cried about it. For days, for weeks, sometimes I still do. This isn’t easy, Tifa, and you shouldn’t have to hide your emotions. You don’t always have to be strong for everyone, you know? It’s not your fault.”

Tifa’s eyes were locked onto the floor as Aerith saw a single tear roll down her face. That beautiful face, that deserved nothing but smiles and laughter, not this.  
“I’m sorry if I said something wrong.” Aerith leaned towards her and touched her hand. “It’s okay. I’m here.” 

Tifa let out a quiet sob and firmly took Aerith's hand. “Thank you. You didn’t do anything wrong, on the contrary, you’ve hit the nail on the head. In my dream, Jessie...She told me it was my fault. She said it so often and with so much rage that I started believing it, too.”

Aerith wiped Tifa’s tear away with her thumb. “Will you...stay with me tonight?”, she requested. 

The Avalanche soldier finally looked her in the eyes. There was a deep sadness behind them, but also something else, something that Aerith hadn’t noticed before.  
“Are you sure?” Tifa asked.  
“Yes!!  
Tifa chuckled. “Well, who could deny someone a request when they have that face of yours.”  
Aerith giggled and clapped her hands together. “Then it’s a date.”  
  
  
Soon however, Aerith noticed she might have gotten ahead of herself. She wanted to be there for Tifa if the nightmares reoccurred, but would she be okay with sleeping next to her?

She led her friend up the stairs. The moon was shining onto that red rug in the middle of the floor.  
Aerith felt herself sweating as she breathed in and went: “Okay, so you can sleep here, and I’ll just get comfortable on the couch downstairs.”  
“Oh.”

Was that disappointment that she was hearing in Tifa's sigh?  
“I-I mean, if you want to. If you want me to stay here then that’s totally, um, okay, if - if you don’t mind.”  
Giggling filled the otherwise quiet room. “Relax! Of course I’m okay with it.”

Tifa borrowed a blue flower-print nightgown, while Aerith was wearing almost the same one in red. “Look! We match!”, the florist had exclaimed in excitement.

It was near midnight when the two girls got into bed. They shared stories, gossiped about Cloud, and finally Aerith said “Goodnight” and turned around.

Except: She could not sleep for the hell of it, despite the exhaustion from the previous battles. And the reason for that was quite obvious - the girl she liked, more than she possibly should - was sharing a bed with her. It felt like ants were crawling all over her skin, and butterflies had taken over her stomach.

After a while Aerith gave up and turned back around. When she opened her eyes, she saw something that she felt like might as well make her heart stop.

The moonlight reflected in Tifa’s eyes who was _looking right at her._ Were it someone else, Aerith might have found it creepy, but the intensity in her love interests’ eyes awoke something in her.  
“Hey”, she whispered.  
“Hey”, Tifa responded.

The two girls shared a smile and layed there in silence, looking at each other, for a little while. Aerith’s desire to cup the other’s face in her hand took over her. Tifa’s eyes widened for a second, then her gaze softened.  
Aerith felt like her breath was being taken away and her heart was bumping louder than it ever had before.  
Finally, she mustered up all her courage to ask: “Would you like me to kiss you?”

Instead of responding, Tifa brought her lips up to Aerith’s and leaned it.

With the kiss, a wave of warmth flooded over Aerith. She gently parted her lips and melted into one with the one she’d been wanting to kiss for so long. It only lasted for a few second, but it felt like nothing else in the world mattered. Nothing but _her._

Afterwards, Aerith put her arms around Tifa as they laid in bed side by side.

“That was nice”, Tifa mumbled.  
“You have no idea how long I’ve been wanting to do this.”  
Tifa chuckled. “You should have done it sooner then. You know I’m on the shy side.”  
“Well”, Aerith said and faced her friend again, “now there’s nothing stopping us anymore.”  
They kissed a second time, and a third, until both got tired and fell asleep in each others’ arms.

And that night, Tifa slept without a single nightmare.  
  
  



End file.
